The Guilford sisters were literally hungry while playing in their fourth match of the day against Palos Hills Stagg’s Leeza Bodnar and Silvia Kulbokas.

“We were really hungry,” Linnea said.

The Endsleys’ appetite probably wasn’t the driving force in what helped the team put away Bodnar and Kulbokas. But coach Jordan Lynde thought their desire aided them in putting together a dominant performance in two sets, 6-0, 6-2, to advance to Day 2.

“They just looked very relaxed on the court,” Lynde said. “They seemed to be playing the best tennis that I’ve seen them play all season.

“They looked very strong and were communicating with each other well on the court. It’s the best tennis I’ve seen them play all year.”

The Guilford duo was the only singles or doubles competitors from the area to advance to the second day.

The Endsleys won their first match in the first round of the championship bracket, defeating Mount Zion’s Megan Crosby and Mara Lebo, 6-4, 6-0, but lost in the second round to Danville’s Rachael and Rebecca Lewis in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.

“They were seeded 22nd but we played well,” Lynde said. “Going into the third match, they were playing well, but I could tell they were getting tired, but fought through it.”

The Endsleys won in the second round of the consolation bracket over Chicago Whitney Young’s Nicole Kaplan and Devon Mitchell, 6-4, 6-2, before winning in the third round to advance.

Lutheran’s Hannah Morgan and Carly Kasicki came close twice to forcing a third set in both of their losing matches, but couldn’t hold on to leads in the second set.

After Morgan and Kasicki defeated Chicago University’s Grace Anderson and Monica Lewis, 6-5, 6-7 (3), 6-4, the Crusaders ran into a tough Winnetka New Trier team of Alex Wolkoff and Catherine MacKinnon.

Lutheran’s doubles team led 5-4 in the second set, but New Trier won the next two games to clinch the match, 6-3, 7-5.

“Our game plan was to just get as many balls on the court as we could,” Morgan said. “We got outmatched and they ended up outplaying us.

Page 2 of 3 - “We could have won it, but we weren’t able to pull it out.”

Kasicki and Morgan lost the first set against Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge’s Anna Kuechenberg and Mikaela McNally, but fought back to take a 3-2 lead in the second.

The Prairie Ridge duo won the next four games to end Kasicki and Morgan’s season, 6-1, 6-3.

“The biggest issues that they had was that they haven’t seen this level of competition all year,” Lutheran coach Maggie Kasicki said. “They needed a harder schedule and maybe the outcomes would have been a lot different.

“That match against New Trier, that’s one they should have won, but we had routine errors.”

Heading into the tournament, Morgan and Carly Kasicki finished the season with just one loss.

“Even that was a third-set tiebreaker match,” coach Kasicki said. “I think they proved themselves to be one of the best teams in the area.”

“We’re really proud of what we did throughout the season,” Morgan said. “We had one of the best records in Rockford and we only had three losses for the whole season.

“It meant a lot to come here.”

Boylan’s doubles team of Janey Knuth and Kelly Custer also played in three matches after winning their first match in the first round, but lost in the first and second rounds of the consolation bracket. Fellow Titans duo Molly Murray and Kenzie Barr lost in the first rounds of the championship and consolation brackets.

Boylan singles competitors Sarah Rosen and Megan Collins lost their first two matches in the double-elimination tournament. Auburn’s Megah Mediratta dropped her first match, won her first consolation contest against Plainfield Central’s Sarah Wurster, 6-4, 6-2, but lost in the second round, 6-1, 6-3.

Hononegah’s Tia Norris lost in the first round, beat Batavia’s Nora McClure, 7-5, 6-1 ,before bowing out in the consolation second round.

The Endsleys will play at 8 a.m. today against LaGrange Lyons’ Samantha Sherman and Meghan Hickey at Prospect High School in Mount Prospect.

After Thursday’s four matches in mid-40-degree weather, the sisters finally enjoyed a meal.

“I had soup!” Lilly Endsley said. “That first thing I had, then some chili.”